29 Jan 2014|Noida | Amity University Campus, Sector-125 Noida
Amity School of Foreign Languages organizes a Workshop on “Meeting Challenges of Teaching French Language”
Amity School of Foreign Languages, Amity University, Noida organized a one-day workshop on “Meeting Challenges of Teaching French Language” on January 29, 2014. At the outset, Ms Archana Kartikeya, Asst. Professor (French) and Programme Co-ordinator, gave an introduction to the workshop, sponsored by Goyal Foreign Language Publishers, and also introduced the distinguished speaker, Dr. Farida Irani, Associate Professor (French), Dept. Of Germanic & Romance Studies, Delhi University, with an overview of her academic and professional achievements and research work in the field of teaching. Mr. Inderbir S. Kochar, Officiating HOI, ASFL and Programme Director, welcomed Dr. Farida Irani, all the guests and participants and expressed his conviction that the workshop would indeed be very enriching for all participants, given the rich teaching experience of Dr. Irani.
Dr. Farida Irani then began her presentation on the methodology and techniques for using the French manual Version Originale. Her presentation enlightened the participants (French Faculties) to use the book in the most effective way. She showed how ‘Version Originale’ is based on the ‘approche actionnelle’ where learners become actively engaged while learning the language. She emphasized that language learners are social actors and ‘Version Originale’ interprets socio-cultural aspects of the society. ‘Version Originale’ fulfils the needs of language learners providing them texts in context. The different volumes of the series of books have 8 - 10 units and every unit encourages learners to learn the language. The audience was informed that ‘Version Originale’ has rapid and spiral progression. The book also provides the previous context at every stage and readers can feel connected with any chapter from any unit. The speaker emphasized that this is the uniqueness of the book.
Following the lecture, there was an animated Question-Answer Round and faculties were asked to share their experiences of using ‘Version Originale’. They expressed their views, including that the DVDs provided with the manuals are lucrative for learners, the texts in context are useful and resourceful and that students are motivated to learn more thanks to the colourful presentation, pictures and graphics. When asked about separating French oral and written expression as 2 different subjects or courses, Dr. Irani said that the two go hand-in-hand and if two or more faculties are teaching these courses with a common textbook, they should ideally teach in co-ordination with each other and continue the next session from where the previous faculty left off. The speaker also said that every year, at least one teacher should be the same for each batch of students throughout their programme, as this helps in assessing the progress of the students.
After the interactive session, Mr. Kochar presented a memento to the guest speaker as a token of appreciation. Finally, Ms. Vini Goyal, Goyal Publishers thanked ASFL, AUUP and all the participants for their enthusiastic contribution and participation and valuable comments.